Reviews by crowellr:

Just came back from another amazing experience at Ebs. Brought friends from Boston, all of whom were expecting the best beer bar in the world and left with nothing saying otherwise. The conversation started with us talking about the Westvleteren 12 and how I had acquired some that I will soon enjoy. He says, I got something you'll like more. After a thrilling 20 minute speech about the different breweries, I will never get tired of listening to him talk about beer, the knowledge he has amazes me, he left us to enjoy our beer and food. A little while later he comes back with a bottle of Earthmonk, and lets everyone at the table have some.

Now I know I am very young, still just 22, but I have had plenty of experience with great beer. This one def topped them all, first of the smell was intoxicating. Infact after the first couple sips, I just sat there smelling this beer, not wanting that smell to leave.

After the first sip, I relized is what unlike any beer I have had before, the different combinations of flavors made a distinct almost earth taste, very odd way to describe it I know.

Either way, this is the best beer I have every had, and most likely will keep that title after I crack my Westlevteren 12, 8 and blonde. Chris is an amazing man, and anyone that has not made it up there is missing an experience that every beer drinker should have.

I had the good fortune to try one of these recently, and was just overwhelmed. This might be the best beer I've ever had; wish I could get my hands on some more. It was served in a wine glass, and had a hazy red/brown color. The thin head was a light brown. Incredible aroma. An extremely earthy, barnyard aroma, intense but pleasant. Somewhat vinous nose also. It had a sour, dark fruit taste. The earthiness translated into a yeast taste. The flavors intensified as the beer warmed. This was a deep, richly rewarding beer.

Thanks to iowaherkeye. Murky brown color with a white head; interesting retention to it. Smell was mostly sour, but some sweet caramel and cherry seemed to come in as well. Sourness and oak in the taste, but unfortunately there was also some metallic flavors too. Maybe I'm missing the big deal with this one, but it just wasn't that great to me.

Dark brown and dark ruby in color with very little, practically zero, visible carbonation. This leaves the glass clean on the way down.

Nice aroma, with good amounts of sour cherries and sweet malt, along with earthy toffee, and oak.

The flavor is nice enough, though is significantly hurt by the lack of carbonation. There's decent amount of tart cherry, sour, vinegar, and wood flavor, but the carbonation makes this one tougher to drink than it should be.

Medium bodied with no carbonation.

The lack of carbonation holds this back from being significantly better.

A 330ml bottle with a BB of April 2016. 2008 vintage. Acquired some time ago from a Belgian webshop and stored in my garage. I've been looking forward to this one. Love the strange label image...

Poured into a Duvel tulip. A deep reddish-brown hue that appears cherry black in the glass. Virtually no head; just a few flaccid tawny bubbles floating on the surface. I guess the carbonation has gone AWOL. The aroma is rich and intense - a mingling of balsamic vinegar, sherry, wine, cherries, plums, raisins, stone fruits, brown sugar, caramel/molasses and wood. Slightly sweet, with a musty, earthy sourness. There is a whiff of solvent/alcohol in the background (initially hot and reminiscent of acetone), though this mellows out after a while. A fantastically complex olfactory experience!

The taste is fervently sour and fruity, with a lingering dry finish. Notes of balsamic vinegar, sherry, wine, cherries, prunes/plums, dried fruit, brown sugar, caramel/molasses and wood. It possesses an incredible vinous, oxidised quality that puckers the tongue and stimulates the palate. Slightly sweet, with a sharp, piercing tartness. A long fruity finish as the flavours slowly release their hold on your tastebuds. Mouthfeel is smooth and rich, with good body and tingly acidity. However the beer is completely flat and lacking in texture, which spoils the taste and makes it feel thinner than it probably should. Highly astringent - dries the palate. Aftertaste of sweet 'n' sour fruitiness; vinegary and delicious.

Wow - what a beer. The complexity and range of flavours are incredible, even though I find it quite a challenging brew. The sour, vinegar character is nicely balanced by sweetness and fruity notes. The glaring flaw is the lack of carbonation, which detracts from the mouthfeel but also affects the flavour. I'm sure that the experience on the palate would be different with greater CO2 presence. Nonetheless, this is an impressive effort from de Struise and one that I'm happy to have tried. Probably not everyone's cup of tea, but well worth sampling if you have the opportunity.

Pours a slightly hazy deep amber color with a slightly off-white head that leaves decent lacing and good-looking legs.

Smells of medium malts with hints of toastiness and large amounts of lightly tart berry and cherry flavors. As it warms the cherry aromas intensify, similar to cherry cough syrup, in a good way.

Tastes more complex than it smells. Slightly dry medium malts with bready flavors up front are joined quickly by lightly tart cherries. Midway through hints of leather and musty hops come into play, carrying through to a lightly tart ending. Mouthfeel is good, with light carbonation.

Overall I thought the cherry flavors were a bit too heavy for this to be anything more than a good beer. Still, interesting and worth a shot.

T/M: Sour and tartness up front without a ton of funk. Some light fruit in the back. Some odd flavors that I'm having trouble describing... Almost like old fruits or vegetables but I'm probably wrong on that. Some dirty cellar, musty, and woody flavors. Carbonation is very weak and it makes the body feel thin and watery. Not a lot of dryness.

D: Not really digging this one. This was split with beachbun1975 and it was a bit hard to finish my sample.

Pours brown with red undertones. A complete lack of bubbles but I think as it continues to mature over time this will change.

A strong aroma of red grapes, cherries and funk from the 70's. A slight presence of vinegar holds it true to the style.

The flavor is tart cherry, brown sugar and oak. An amazing test of balance between sweet and sour.

Mouthfeel is a gentle touch of tart and sticky with a medium body. Fairly smooth as I've moved onto a second bottle. A real treat from start to finish.

Overall I really dig this. It's a sour but not overwhelming. I'm a huge fan of De Struise and this one stands out as a favorite of mine. I first had this several years ago and have been waiting patiently for it's next release.

This beer is actually not retired and is still being made evidenced by the sight of a huge container of cherries floating on top of the fermenting beer I saw at the Struise farm a few weeks back.

This beer was sampled at the Kulminator in Antwerp, in a Struise tulip. Beer poured a deep brown, iced tea like color with a decent head that receeded quickly. Nose had some definite sour cherry notes and a tart character. Taste was wonderful. Cherry taste was fresh but yet there was a wood character from the aging. Nice sour tone all through the beer made this one hard to put down.

Incredibly drinkable and smooth for this style. Brownish red with some alcohol and woodiness in the scent. Medium mouthfeel, soft carbonation, wonderful cherry and lemon and winey and balsamic vinegar malted down - with anything,little head , thanks Hopdog.

Head rises slowly to about 1 finger. Fine and cream colored with poor retention. Beer is a semi-cloudy dark, almost opaque mahogany. Lacing is spotty with decent stick. Just about average though the head size and retention are lacking.

Nose is vinegar, oak, sour red fruit, and some slight hints of vanilla. Aromatic and the vinegary sweet fruit characteristics come out nicely.

Opens creamy and tart. Sour red fruit puree mixed with red vinegar and some sweet soy sauce notes. Robust sour vinegar towards the middle with some ethanol poking through. End is more red fruit tartness. Finish is a bit of vinegar spiciness with a lingering hot aftertaste. Enjoyable and the flavors seem to have mellowed and melded together nicely here.

Medium bodied with low carbonation. Smooth and oily in the mouth and goes down silky with some slight bubbles. Finish is messy with a slightly lingering aftertaste. Really drinkable for the style.

Age has really done wonders for this beer. Really smooth with flavors that are well balanced but still distinct and prominent at the same time. A solid representation of the style.

Murky dark brown color with just a bit of tan foam. Aroma has really nice dried fruit notes with lots of sour raisins and some figs. taste starts sour and fruity with sour cherries and grapes, like a classic flanders ale, but gets more complex with really nice dried fruits, mostly raisins and figs. It's like a sour/acetic quadrupel or something like that. Medium body, slightly syrupy, just a bit of carbonation. A really complex beer with quadrupel type flavors but sour like a flemish ale.

A - Pours a cloudy dark purplish-brown color with no head, only a few bubbles and a ring around the glass. Leaves very slight lacing.

S - Fairly tart with red wine, cherries, wood, and spices.

T - Incredibly vinous, with dry, tart red wine dominating, along with cherry, raisin, brown sugar, vinegar, oak, and spice. This is seriously one of the most wine-like beers I've ever had. Flavor is nice though, tasty and full, and finish is long.

M - Body is medium and the palate is silky smooth. Carbonation is very low, at borderline Lost Abbey levels, but this actually doesn't detract much since this beer is so wine-like.

D - Average to a little better. It's a sipper, sort of like a medium-bodied red wine.

330 mL bottle poured into a De Struise chalice. 2008 on the label, best by 4/27/2016.

Appearance - Pours with no head. A few stray bubbles. A lifeless dirty pondwater brownish red.

Smell - Huge red wine nose to it. I could smell it as I poured it. Balsamic vinegary acidity. Deep malts come through. Molasses? Definitely a chocolate presence to it as well. Oak and some faint greenish herbal notes.

Taste - A multifaceted beer for sure. Lots of brown sugar and molasses with a dose of mild vinegar acidity. Darker malts come through. Slight coffee flavor to it. Adds an interesting dimension. Vinous wine notes and oak. The vinegar sourness comes back with a sharp bite in the finish.

Mouthfeel - Yeah, it's nearly still. It has a tiny bit of carbonation. It doesn't really ruin the beer, but it would be nice to have some carbonation.

Overall - Reminds me of a BFM beer. Incredibly complex with blatant flaws. Not something I could drink regularly, but this was a nice treat this afternoon.